HOUSTON — Students inside Sylvan Rodriguez Elementary appeared to have little problem counting numbers or connecting with their teachers on the first day of school.
It's one of 36 digital learning centers for students with no access to technology.
But things didn’t work for many Houston ISD students who are mostly working from home.
"I'd give it a B minus," said HISD math lab teacher Maxie Hollingsworth. "I’m a perfectionist, so that’s not good.”
Hollingsworth is teaching classes from home and also helping her own third grader.
She was among those noticing connection issues almost immediately.
"We all had a presentation that we were going to show the kids and we decided, you know what, we need to do something different today so that tomorrow it’s boom, boom, boom, boom...hopefully,” Hollingsworth said.
HISD blamed issues on one of the hosts of its Internet services and sent a direct link to the district’s HUB via social media in hopes of helping.
The outages also affected a number of other districts around the nation, including Dallas.
"As we all are aware, even in your own business, you can’t be prepared for a crash," said HISD superintendent Grenita Lathan. "We can only address it when we find out.”
Lathan, who visited one family’s home, says more than 12,000 students still await needed technology to connect in the first place.
"Expect technology not to work, expect someone not to hear you, expect something to freeze,” Hollingsworth said.
She offered the same advice to families as she gives herself. That's to try and remain patient as we navigate an unprecedented school year.
"I’m hoping that they really do understand that we are trying our best, everyone is,” Hollingsworth said.
HISD tweeted this Tuesday afternoon concerning the connection issues: